Conference focuses on Asian finance

The Wharton Undergraduate Division and the school's MBA students turned the old adage "two heads are better than one" to their advantage Friday by launching the first jointly sponsored day-long Wharton Asian Finance Conference. Organizers estimate that more than 450 students, faculty and businessmen participated in this year's conference, "The Changing Role of the Asian Financial Industry: A Global Perspective." Approximately 40 students from groups such as the Wharton Asia Club and the Wharton Asian Association coordinated the event, according to Conference Undergraduate Chairperson Konnin Tam. His graduate counterpart, second-year MBA student Vanessah Ng, explained that this year's conference was the result of a merger between the Asian Business Conference -- first organized by undergraduates in 1995 -- and the MBAs' Asian Capital Markets Conference. "As a result, [the conference] is bigger and better in many different ways," Tam said, noting that the number of panels increased from three to six. Tam also commented on the strength of the panels, stressing that "our speakers represent many of major players in the region." Organizers added that the joint effort has led to expanded scope and in-depth coverage of financial markets, the theme of this year's conference. Speakers covered such diverse topics as "Infrastructure Finance: Multisourcing for Capital" and "Fixed Income Capital Markets: Overcoming Obstacles." A crowd of about 150 gathered at the speech on "Infrastructure" to hear Jonathan Berman of Barclay's International Group speak on "the boom in Asian infrastructure finance" and the problems created by the "overlegalistic approach" of Asian businesses. Participants at the conference provided a wide variety of perspectives, representing all four of Penn's undergraduate schools, as well as the business schools at Yale, Georgetown and Penn State universities. Students from as far off as Singapore, Taiwan and Korea also attended the event. "We mean for the conference to be open to everybody," Ng said, noting attendance would probably exceed 450 as many people opted to skip paying the $20 ticket fee for lunch and simply sat in on the panels. Tam said advertising for the conference was done mostly by word of mouth, connections and a key sponsorship from the Far Eastern Economic Review, a major financial publication in the region. Many in attendance said this was the first time they had come to the conference, and stressed that they were impressed by the strength of the panelists and the networking opportunities presented by such a strong group. Georgetown School of Business student Li Chun Zeng said she came to the conference for "a better understanding of Asia business" and to seek out summer internships. Second-year Wharton MBA student Alvin Lam said he attended last year, "but this years panels' are very impressive? especially compared with [conferences hosted by] other Wharton groups." Ng said the key to success was the dual organizational effort. "MBAs bring real-world experience and undergraduates bring tremendous energy," she said. And the uncanny timing of the conference -- which coincided with Asian Pacific American Heritage Week, Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit and fluctuations in Asian financial markets -- was purely coincidental, according to organizers. "We've been planning this since last January," Tam said.